Search results
Apr 10, 2024 · Drafted in secret by delegates to the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787, this four-page document, signed on September 17, 1787, established the government of the United States.
Jan 4, 2002 · The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America. Reported by James Madison (New York, 1920). description ends , 118–20), Robert Yates (Secret Proceedings and Debates, 225–227), and John Lansing, Jr. (Notes of John Lansing description begins Joseph R. Strayer, ed.,
The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Revolution in Government. by Richard R. Beeman. The United States Constitution has become the primary text of America’s civil religion. As a nation lacking a common religion, “We the People” have come to worship our Constitution as the scripture that holds us together.
- Overview
- Creating a new government
- Drafting the Constitution
- Ratifying the Constitution
- What do you think?
Shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, American leaders realized that the nation needed a new, stronger Constitution. But what would the new system of government look like?
From May 25 to September 17, 1787, 55 delegates from 12 states convened in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. Rhode Island was the only state that refused to send representatives to the convention, which assumed as its primary task the revision or replacement of the Articles of Confederation.
Though the Articles of Confederation had provided the framework for governance since the declaration of the American Revolution against Britain, many of the fledgling nation’s political leaders agreed that the creation of a stronger central government was essential to the development of the power and potential of the United States. Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government lacked the power of taxation, had no authority to regulate commerce, and was impotent to resolve conflicts arising between states.
Seeking to bolster the authority of the federal government, the delegates gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and elected George Washington to preside over the convention.
One of the most spirited debates at the convention regarded the composition of the legislative branch of government. Should the legislature be unicameral—consisting of one house—or bicameral—consisting of two houses? Perhaps more importantly, how should representation in the legislature be apportioned?
The delegates ultimately combined elements of both plans in what became known as the Connecticut Compromise. The legislative branch would be bicameral, consisting of an upper house—the Senate—and a lower house—the House of Representatives. Representation in the House would be based on population, and each state was allotted two seats in the Senate. The office of the president would constitute the executive authority and was to be chosen by the electoral college.
The structure of government would be federalist in nature, consisting of three independent branches: the legislature, Congress; the executive, the president: and the judicial, the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would adjudicate disputes between states, and Congress was authorized to levy taxes, declare war, raise an army, regulate interstate commerce, and draft laws consistent with the purpose of exercising these powers.
The compromise also addressed another major point of contention between northern and southern states over the issue of slavery. Should enslaved people be counted for the purpose of a state’s representation in Congress? And if so, how? The northern states did not think enslaved people should be counted at all, while the southern slaveholding states thought they should. The Three-Fifths Compromise established that enslaved men and women would be represented in the House at a ratio of 3 to 5 of their actual numbers. Thus, every five individuals would count as three for the purposes of both legislative representation and taxation.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was one of the most notorious provisions of the Constitution. For delegates from the northern states, many of whom were morally opposed to the institution of slavery, the compromise was viewed as a necessary evil in order to secure the ratification of the Constitution since the southern states had threatened to refuse to ratify the document if the interests of southern slaveholders were not protected therein.
Before the Constitution could take effect, it had to be ratified—formally approved by the assemblies of at least nine of the 12 states that had sent delegates to the convention.
Ironically enough, after the acrimonious debates over legislative representation, the small states were the first to ratify the Constitution. The most serious opposition to ratifying the document came from the larger states of Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. These states were home to large rural populations that sympathized with the plight of farmers like Daniel Shays, who had spearheaded a rebellion against what he perceived as the unjust economic policies and political corruption of the Massachusetts state legislature.
If you had been a delegate at the Constitutional Convention, would you have supported the New Jersey Plan or the Virginia Plan?
Can you think of anything the delegates could have done to ensure the ratification of the Constitution without perpetuating the institution of slavery?
In your own words, describe the character of the federal government as created at the Constitutional Convention.
[Notes and attributions]
On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution—the oldest written constitution still in effect today—was approved and signed in Philadelphia by thirty-nine delegates to the federal convention. The document has been hailed as the most successful work of its kind in modern history.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA—17871 WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to our-selves and our Posterity, do ordain and estab-
People also ask
What was the plan of government in 1787?
When was the constitution drafted?
How many delegates signed the Constitution in 1787?
Who signed the Constitution in 1787?
2 days ago · In state conventions held through the winter of 1787 to the summer of 1788, the Constitution was ratified by the necessary minimum of nine states. But the vote was desperately close in Virginia and New York , respectively the 10th and 11th states to ratify, and without them the whole scheme would have been built on sand.
